Corvallis, OR

Day 4: Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Dallas to Corvallis: 31 miles

I slept in this morning, until 7:30. By the time I showered, cleaned my gear, and made an excursion to the local Safeway, it was noon. And it was raining.

But that was no big deal, right? After all, I'm now in the Willamette River Valley. It's only about 60 miles to Eugene, and we made that in a day last time.

But that was in good weather, and probably with a tailwind. Rain doesn't do much for a biker's speed. And then there was the wind. With the coming of the rain, it had shifted around to the south, and at times was gusting to 20 mph. It made for a steady 6 mph pace on the flat. Eugene? No way!

The bike path south of Rickreall

The Willamette Valley looked much the same as it did in 1981, with many of the fields used for research crops. The valley is one of very few places in the world that is perfect for growing filberts. It looked much the same, but a whole lot wetter. The highlight of the day was encountering a model train hobby shop in the middle of nowhere, along the bike path that runs for ten miles or so south of Rickreall on Highway 99W. I stopped in to check it out, and the proprietor talked my ear off for a good hour.

A sea of white: crop research

Wherever you go, you'll find the town dump. Or county landfill. Or whatever. Approaching Corvallis, I saw a gigantic one. I just had to take a snapshot of the sign showing the name of the road. It kinda goes along with the one from the Whalen Island post, doesn't it?

Appropriate place name

What with the late start and all, I was glad to stop in Corvallis at 7pm. The Motel 6 here is much nicer than the local motel in Dallas, and has great wi-fi. I splurged on a meal at Pastini, across the street, then crashed once again, and awoke at 2:30 am to clean my gear and try to pump out some text.